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The ongoing 26th Surajkund Crafts Fair is a
place where you can find best of hand made crafts, handlooms and rich Indian cuisine. This year theme state is Assam and a complete pavilion is dedicated to
craftsmen of this culture rich north east state of India. First time craftsmen
from SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation- consist of
Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) nations and
other neighboring countries like Kyrgyzstan have participated in this beautiful
fair with their unique art and craft. Have a look at these photographs and get
an insight about this exclusive fair which held every year between 01st
February to 15th February in Surajkund, Haryana (Delhi NCR).

Few days ago I wrote about deputy chairman planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia declaring tea as a national drink of India. It is time to take a look at some interesting facts about Indian tea. Readers of this post can include some more facts in the comment box.

1. The most common word for tea in India is 'Chai' (चाय) or 'Cha' (चा). Like many words in Indian dictionary Chai has too come from Persian language which is derived from Chinese Mandarin Language. So Many people who think Chai is an India word or never had payed attention about this fact that it is actually a Persian word where tea is known as 'Chay'.

2. Most commonly used spices for masala tea are ginger, cardamom, cloves, fennel and basil leafs.

3. Except southern India where coffee is very popular rest of India enjoys variety of spice tea.

4. India used to be largest producer of tea few years ago. Now China has taken number one position. China and India produce more than half of the world'…

I don't
remember clearly when I started morning tea and whenteabecame a habit in my life. Most of us
do not remember this fact but one thing they are sure about is they can't live
without their first cup of tea in the morning. My taste for good tea has grown
gradually over the years. I started withMasala (spice) chai (tea) and enjoyed every bit of it. In
fact, I am still enjoying it as my first cup of tea in the morning.
In
1987 I first saw tea plantation and processing unit inDarjeeling,West Bengalwith
my parents. My father is very fond of leaf tea and since I was always keen to
know how things happen, my father explained everything about it. I was excited
to see the plantation and processing. It was a new type of cultivation for me.
I don't remember the name of the tea estate but it was beautiful and filled
with small green leafy plants, women laborers were plucking tea leaves
and throwing them in the basket at their back was fascinating.Darjeeling Teahas a distinct aro…

Goa is famous for water sports in India. A good number of water sports activities are available on most of the beautiful beaches from Jet Skiing, Para Sailing, Scuba Diving, Dinghy Sailing, Fishing, Water Skiing to Wind Surfing. Recently I went there and enjoyed Jet Skiing & Para Sailing very much on Baga beach. I have one advice for people going for water sports is they must go for it empty stomach as chances of puking increases after full meal.

Once
upon a time a king was ruling more than 10 countries. He fought fiercely,
shattered every attack like a sand castle and emerged victorious. He considered
greatest and his enemies shivered facing him. Greatest of greatest enemies
showed respect of his master craftsmanship. Bards sang many songs in his praise
and made him 'God of Cricket'. He is a legend now… He is master blaster of
Cricket. Sachin Tendulkar, scored many centuries and runs any
cricketer ever scored. But he is aging now. His fierce battles injured and
forced him to develop a new game strategy against enemies. But his new plans
are failing; He is losing one game after another moreover, he is losing
himself. Even his small enemies are confident fighting and defeating him as he
has become vulnerable. He is no longer a backbone of his beloved army. Is
Tendulkar now fighting his last battle? He wants to score his 100th century
since so many months but each time he crumbles. His bards are still confident that he w…

Indian Cinema is growing in almost every field. Be it subject, acting, characterisation, music, cinematorgraphy, art direction or overall treatment of the film, it seems movie makers are trying to experiment new genres. Recently I watched Anurag Kashyap's 'Gangs of Wasseypur' (GOW) based on coal mafia of Dhanbad. And I must say this film breaks a lot of barriers in filmmaking in India. It's a path breaking film in many ways and its commercial success denotes that those filmmakers who believes in good cinema must not give up and they must continue exploring in different subjects backed with equally good amount of research and yes they should also keep in mind the commercial aspect of it. After all movie making is a commercial form of art.
Let's come back to .'Gangs of Wasseypur'. I feel this film caters a specific set of viewers and not meant for all. A strong depiction of mannerism of coal mafia in Bihar is the high point of the film. For the first time a …

It seems we Indians are very content people be it progress in life or advancement in sports. London Olympic is again a big disappointment and our sports person's repeated failures in big events simply denotes that how much we are lagging behind in every sports. It is the mindset and lack of passion which is responsible more than anything. It is also becoming a major hindrance in performance. I feel, we as a nation always feel that playing in the world's biggest sports event Olympic is itself a big achievement and our coaches, parents and even media say this over and over again to players. And when we say things like this, hunger for an Olympic medal also seems distant somewhere.
Indian Hockey team's poor show in Olympic again raised a lot of concern. But when you compare state of Hockey from the past events it was bound to happen. We lost every match. More than players it was our national coach Michael Nobbs who shattered with their performance and apologized for the zero…

Ra.One is not the first film on
super hero in India and it won't be the last. Hollywood has seen so much
commercial success in exploiting the charisma of these comic superheroes on the
box office and this propelled filmmakers across the movie world to bring local
super heroes on their silver screen. Earlier attempts on superhero films in
India failed miserably. First major success wasHritik
Roshan's 'Koi Mil
Gaya' and then 'Krrish'.
Producer and director Rakesh Roshan in a true sense brought an Indian superhero
'Krrish' first time on Indian celluloid. Though Krrish's character was not from
any comic book unlike Batman, Spiderman or Superman movies but he has the
superpower to fight evil, fly in the sky and like any Indian hero he can dance
with beautiful heroines.Ra.Oneis also an attempt to take advantage
of this superhero mega market by Bollywood superstar who has pumped all his
money to produce this special effect superhero film. Ra.One film heavi…

New York Times apologised for a cartoon published in
its newspaper. Cartoon categorically depicts India's Mars space mission as an
attempt to enter into elite club of space missions. Before moving ahead, let’s
talk about this cartoon first. Controversial cartoon depicts an Indian scientist with
a buffalo. Scientist is wearing a traditional Indian attire dhoti and knocking
at the cabin where two elite scientists are reading a newspaper. Newspaper's
headline writes India's Mars mission. Cartoon depicts how India is trying to
enter this elite club of Mars mission where developed countries already have a
presence. Hong Kongbased
Cheng has made this cartoon, who is famous for cartoons on world affairs. So
what made New York Times to pull out this cartoon? Many readers complained that
cartoon is full of racial overtone and mocks India's ambitious mars mission.
This is not a first incident and I feel this won't be the last.